


so goddamn lucky

by EternallyEC



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, But also, Canon Compliant, Concurrent Timelines, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27051193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEC/pseuds/EternallyEC
Summary: She sleeps, she wakes, she walks,she watches.- or -Dani does more than watch and wait for Jamie.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 5
Kudos: 153





	so goddamn lucky

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! I just watched both Hill House and Bly Manor and was totally blown away by both, but Dani and Jamie... From the first time they looked at each other, I was begging for the gay to happen and I knew I would have a new obsession. 
> 
> I... had no idea. 
> 
> The title doubles as how I feel for having been given this gift of such beautiful queer representation, a love story we shamefully rarely see done so exquisitely, and I hope that you enjoy this love letter to it.

Dani had been traveling for so long with no set destination in mind that she'd started to lose track of where she was. She hadn't felt like herself since Eddie’s death, the guilt and grief slowly eating her alive from the inside-out and leaving behind a hollowed-out shell who could hardly even be called a shadow of the woman she'd once been. 

And when his mother, once thought of as her own surrogate mom, refused to stop checking in on her, the guilt only grew and began to consume her again. 

She felt guilty sending her away as the cab pulled up, her suitcases packed and resting neatly just out of the older woman's view, but she was desperate for a change. She knew what she had to do and, no matter how bad it felt, she had hurried to the cab as soon as the car was out of sight, nearly throwing her bags into the backseat before climbing in herself. 

From the cab to the airport she went, flying to a nearby state and renting a car. Her meager teacher's salary hadn't allowed her to save up much, but Eddie had a life insurance policy through his own work with her named as a beneficiary. She had tried to give it to his mother, wanting no part of the blood money, but she'd refused, insisting that Dani should have it. 

It had sat in a savings account unused since then, gathering interest and slowly growing until she began to look at it as an escape fund. 

She traveled until she'd spent a sizable chunk of it, still leaving plenty but not enough for her to want to risk it. She waited for a sign as she traveled, trying to be frugal as possible, and the day that she looked into a mirror and didn't see Eddie’s reflection behind her, the glowing reflection of headlights eerily bright in the lenses of his glasses, she decided it was sign enough and went to a real estate office. 

Dani didn't waste time looking, instead asking for whichever house they were having the most trouble renting out. If she couldn't give the money away, she could at least use it to help them out and that was exactly what she did. 

Soon she was standing in front of a vacant house that had certainly seen better days, but it wasn't too terribly shabby. The key worked with a little effort, and the door opened with a click. 

The space wasn't terribly shabby, though it would take some serious cleaning and sprucing up to make it look livable. But it was a roof over her head and a stable place to start a new life in, and she decided that was good enough for her as she clicked the light on.

She’d also bought a car along the way, so after taking her bags in and taking stock of the situation, she made a trip to the store to buy a lot of cleaning supplies and a few cans of paint. She spent the day scrubbing and dusting and scouring every last surface in the kitchen and dining room, only calling it quits when her stomach loudly protested the lack of food. 

Taking a quick shower, she threw on an oversized sweater and pair of jeans, throwing her wet hair up into a ponytail before going out to grab a pizza. She ate it on the floor, surveying the results of her hard work and already planning out how she’d tackle the other rooms the next day. 

It took her nearly a week of days consisting of nothing but hard work, but soon the interior of the house was done. A good, proper cleaning and a fresh coat of paint on the walls made it feel much more homey and beautiful, and she’d chosen to hire someone who was slowly making headway with the outside. 

As it turned out, the woman she’d hired was a _spectacular_ gardener, and she very much enjoyed her company besides. The days passed with them talking more and more, and though Eddie’s ghost hadn’t stopped appearing to her when she dropped her guard and looked in the mirror, it seemed he was coming to her less and less. 

And, without even realizing it, she began to heal. 

She healed every time she laughed at one of Jamie’s jokes, the other woman having a peculiar sense of humor that always caught her off-guard in the best way. And she healed every time their eyes met and lingered just a little too long, saying all of the things Dani couldn’t bring herself to verbalize. 

And she healed when they kissed for the first time; it had been nearly six months since they’d met, things between them building slowly but surely after Dani had confessed her part in Eddie’s death and been reassured it wasn’t her fault. Knowing that it didn’t make the gardener see her any differently had helped her open up to her feelings more, to absolve herself of some of the burden of guilt she’d been carrying for over a year, and though she knew that she’d likely never stop blaming herself, it helped. She was _lighter_ and freer, and Eddie’s ghost had almost disappeared altogether. 

And as she kissed Jamie, this love she’d never expected to find threatened to consume her whole from the inside-out. 

She welcomed it in and kissed her a little more fiercely, held her a little more tight. 

_You. Me. Us._

The words sprang to mind unbidden, but she felt them in her very bones. She didn’t know what they meant but she knew that they were important, that this moment was _everything_ , and she vowed never to let Jamie go, never to take a single moment for granted because they were _so goddamn lucky to have this_. 

How she knew this, she didn’t know, but as she pulled away to stare into Jamie’s eyes, the emotion she found there threatening to pull her in and drown her, she knew it was the truest thing she’d ever known in her life. 

And she’d do anything it took to protect Jamie, to protect the _us_ of them, for as long as they were allowed this happiness. 

She had no idea that she was tucked away, not in a memory or a dream but in a timeline that the new Lady in the Lake had crafted just for them. It was real but it was not, some strange in-between that made it no less _important_ and necessary. 

Their story had always been a love story, and the new Lady of the Lake was content to see it to completion as she waited for Jamie to come home to her, though she didn’t long for her to hurry. She was content to watch over her, though she never let Jamie see her watching. 

But she watched Flora marry the man of her dreams, she watched Miles start his own career, she saw Owen remain single forever after Hannah’s death but how he found a happiness and peace with it similar to Jamie's, and she _watched_. 

She slept, she woke, she walked, _she watched._

And all the while, she took comfort in the other life she’d given herself. The alternate Dani and Jamie lived a long and happy life together and they died within weeks of each other. Jamie outlived her, something that was slated to always be, as it turned out; but she followed within a few months, passing at the same time as the Lady’s _own_ Jamie did. 

She’d come back to Bly as soon as she realized, and she spent her last days mostly by the lake. Sometimes she’d talk to Dani and other times she would just stare into the water, hoping to see a reflection of the woman she loved. 

But Dani remained hidden, tucked away in a beautiful dream of her and Jamie in the flower shop, dancing and kissing and sneaking away into the back room. And there she remained until the night something shifted, a force slowly easing her back to waking. 

Two different colored eyes fluttered open, pretty lips curving into a smile when she realized she was standing in the manor and there, across from her, looking just as she had in 1987, was Jamie. 

They stared at each other for a moment, shock rendering them motionless even as they beamed at each other, and then they were embracing and kissing, tears mingling as they held each other tightly. 

_You, me, us._

_At last._

~FIN 


End file.
